Alright. I'll admit it. I watch Lost. On occasion. Or more than that.

Fine, I'm one of those who doesn't miss an episode and reads the forums and talks with people after the show about what might really be going on. Okay? Is a little release of the conspiracy theorist inside me so bad? Didn't think so.

So, those that watch the show and like it usually find themselves trying to figure out the on-going riddles. It's easy to get obsessed, as one can tell from about five minutes perusing the forums. There have been many, and I mean MANY theories flying around about the show's plot. Some seem generated by some form of inbred monkey, and others actually seem to be really well thought out. (Not) Surprisingly, there's a lot of contrasting opinions out there.

The interesting thing about this show, is that it actually has respect for its audience. It's not catering to the dumbest viewer out there (sorry, Cleetus). Clues are sometimes put in a single frame that only those with Tivos could find. Or it's one of those, "you gotta expect it, and then watch the scene three or four times to see/hear it" clues. Maybe they got some deal with TiVo? I don't know. Anyway, with or without TiVo, or bitTorrent for that matter, it's usually only those that seem to be thinking like the show's writers that will even notice those clues.

Whilst in the midst of my "I swear I'm not addicted to the Internet" browsing, I ran across an interesting theory for those that follow the show. Some of the forum talk out there is eluding to the following:

The island was the location for a nano-robot experiment, whereby these microscopic robots were designed to fix and maintain the human body. The experiment was a success, but only until the nanobots decided to reprogram the humans -- hence, the "others". The black smoke seen on occasion is the only visual proof of these nanobots. Island inhabitants get infected via open wound. Hallucinations and hearing voices are symptoms of this. It varies from person to person. Also, in the first season, when Sayid was having trouble with his compass, that was due to the fact that the island itself is a big magnet that keeps these nanobots from leaving the island. The bunker operation is what keeps the magnet activated.

Now, there still is much left to be explained, but this may fill some of the plot holes that seem to be lingering in many of the theories out there. I thought it was pretty interesting, and I plan to use this "think small" perspective when scrutinizing future episodes. Or just assume that everyone's a sorcerer and call it good.